Changing our conception of comunication

When in 2007 Steve Jobs introduced a new product to the world, nobody imagined how important this announcement would be. Apple released  a new and revolutionary devise that had an ipod touch, a phone and an advanced internet comunicator in only one little machine. The name of it was “The iPhone”.

Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple said that the iPhone was a 5 years ahead  phone and it was absolutely true. Back in 2007 we only had “smartphones” with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreens with stylus, but Apple did it again and broke all the rules to give us a product that by then was only part of our imagination.

This is how after years of research Steve Jobs and his company set up a legend that forced all cell phone companies to create and modify their projects to be at Apple’s level and this is how a competition started in the comunication industry.

In my opinion the release of the first iPhone changed the course of history of the mobile comunication. I think that without this invention the tablets, the touchscreen TV and many other technologies nowadays wouldn't exist and it would be years behind of what we know today. What do you think?

To see the video of the release of the iPhone, click here

Manufacturing in China: Slavery in the 21st Century

All technological devices are the result of a series of processes such as design creation, research on the product impact, and manufacturing. The latter corresponds to the process of assembling the device manually or mechanically, and it tends to be rather polemic. Most manufacturers are from China, and they supply companies such as Apple, Nokia, and Motorola.

As I mentioned before, manufacturing is a polemic topic because of many reasons. One of them relates to the working conditions of the workers, who have to work long hours and seven days per week sometimes. Moreover, these labors have experienced traumatic accidents inside their work place; for instance, on January, two people were killed because of an explosion in an Apple supplier that was assembling iPad cases. On top of that, workers receive little payment for their services despite the accidents and diseases they are exposed to.

Also, the companies who have suppliers do not seem to be concerned about these accidents. Apple is famous in this regard since several independent reports indicate that they do not change the working codes even when mortal accidents occur inside their manufacturers; for example, when they were alerted that dangerous chemicals would end up jeopardizing the life of the workers, they did not heed the warning and several accidents ensued.

Whether the companies pay or do not pay attention to the working conditions of their workers, it is up to them. What is sadder is the fact that the Chinese government has allowed this to happen and that the investigations are carried out by independent organizations alien to the official administration.

If you want to know more about Apple's malpractices, read the following article.